The Thirteen Commandments: No. 9
"Keep Your Records Well"
A. Security, Retention and Destruction
Your ICP should clearly state the company's document retention and destruction policy (which should, of course, detail that documents and records are kept in a manner and for a period required by law before they are destroyed). If a private litigant or the US Government request documents after they have been destroyed, and if your ICP provides for automatic destruction as a matter of course, no one should accuse your company of obstructing justice or undermining the civil discovery process.
Records are increasingly kept in electronic form. Export and import laws recognize and allow for this new medium. However, as with paper documents, there are security risks. Invest in security. Electronic security technologies are developing more quickly than our laws can keep pace. You should be aware that there may be strict legal restrictions on the use and export of these technologies. For example, presently the US Government strictly limits the use and export of encryption technology.
B. US Government Regulation And Auditing
Presently the Customs Modernization Act and the Export Administration Regulations require that you and your agents keep records for five years and in a manner that you can produce records upon a demand from the US Government. Moreover, these laws expand the number of parties subject to recordkeeping requirements and detail what documents are to be kept. Violators of import or export recordkeeping requirements face stiff fines, criminal prosecution, and delay or confiscation of shipments.
